God Slayer Chronicles 91 Die!

Sprucely jumping to his feet, he stretched forwards, touching his toes; then to the side with one hand on one hip and the other curved over his head, causing the bones along his spine and arm to crackle with each repetition of the movement.

Letting out a partial sigh with the premonition it'd be a long day, Sha Ku opened his creaky wooden door, entering the courtyard which had finally been repaired after his duel with Song Ping. The fountain flowed with clear blue water, spouting a stream of clear crystal water out of a little purple shelled turtle's mouth.

"Strange, I never heard…" Before he could finish his trail of thought, a loud-mouthed disciple wearing the fiery robes of vanquishing peak approached!

"You there!" He strode forwards, his hardened mitten-like hand clasped over the hilt of his sword as he took every step. His voice was rough, like a dog that had its throat stomped upon, sporting long dark hair tied behind his back with an arrogant look plastered across his noble face. Across his neck were two distinct scars, that looked like the result of something barbed ripping it apart.

The older lad marched up straight towards the small, Sha Ku. His sharp eyes fixed upon him, slightly startled… this was not what he had been expecting, at least when he'd been told to wait outside this 'Sha Ku's' dormitory.

"You're Sha Ku, are you not?" He stepped in Sha Ku's face almost immediately, holding up a piece of brown paper with red markings littered upon it.

Sha Ku slowly looked up at the lad who was at least double his age and who towered over his currently, small physique. He could read his cultivation base easily, noticing the fellow was only at the middle phase of the Qi Sea Realm. With this he let out a sigh of relief, this man was no threat to him… although the aura emanating off the blood in that paper was at least a Qi Core cultivator.

Sha Ku gave a quick nod, holding his hand out, accepting the folded note. As he unfolded the thin sheet of paper, there was only one word upon it – "Die." Written with the most hatefully styled symbol, one could twist their mind to manifest.

"How fascinating, I must have offended the author somehow. I wonder who it is?" Sha Ku's mind raced away, thinking of the figures that had been harmed by him or by his karma. There was that fat tub of lard… Zhou was his name? Yes, Zhou, it couldn't have been any of his relatives though, he was related to a Prime Elder who was bound to act if he discovered anything…

Then there was the pompously prancing Ping, Song Ping. Song Ping was far too proud to call a hit out upon Sha Ku, he'd rather suffer ten-thousand deaths than admit defeat to his more talented counterpart…

The only person left who he could presume was that thick-skulled lad whom he'd beaten so brutally, just before the sun had set!

"Wait, how did they track me down so quickly?" Sha Ku thought to himself, completely confused, having an air of suspicion about him. He felt there was something going on that he yet couldn't fully understand. Like smoke, the problem constantly evaded him, unable to grasp it, fleeing from his control.

"The pieces are in place, but which am I? And who is truly the gamemaster?" Sha Ku whispered to himself as his suspicions grew ever deeper. Who was the person on the lower peak that would sell his information, or leak it? Most feared him beyond belief…

Sha Ku scratched his chin as Yuan Lin quickly interjected, "Sha Ku, I trust you know what this means?" the dark-haired tower looked down to the young boy, his brow extremely stern and a little concerned. His Supervisor had demanded he take this letter to Sha Ku after his younger brother had been beaten completely senseless… but this child was… well, he was practically an infant! Such power in that form made for a disastrous enemy.

Yuan Lin's face didn't betray his emotions though, this wasn't his first rodeo.

"No… What does it mean?" Sha Ku replied, acting the part of the innocent and clueless child.

"It means that you have been challenged! Any of those above the bottom peak have to accept the challenge of another! None can weasel there way out of this hole." Yuan Lin explained, his every word streaming with confidence full of the storied lore and rules of the Spirit Sword Sect.

"But… I'm not on the middle peak yet?" Sha Ku raised an eyebrow, granted he was going to ascend to the Middle Peak within a year; it was still a tad early to be sending challenges engulfed in killing intent…

"Yes, but you are in the Qi Sea stage, meaning that at the next cleansing of the Lower Peak, you shall be able to survive. My lord Ren Xuan want's it to be known that the challenge has been issued!" Yuan Lin explained, his master was someone who liked to plan ahead. In Ren Xuan's mind, Sha Ku was his meat; no one could touch him!

"Hu." Sha Ku made a strange face; this Ren Xuan was inadvertently helping him by challenging him to a duel. Sha Ku had to admit, it wasn't the worst arrangement that he'd ever suffered.

"Yuan Lin, is it?" Sha Ku looked up at the fellow from vanquishing peak.

"I never mentioned my name how -"

Before he finished, Sha Ku had already continued, "You're from Vanquishing Peak, currently the number two peak overall. There's a look in your eyes that is one that could only come from being born into the upper reaches of the aristocracy, so why are you calling Ren Xuan your lord?"

"Err-" Yuan Lin scratched the back of his head, "My mother remarried into the Ren Clan after my father passed. She took me with her instead of letting me reside in the Yuan Clan. Ren Xuan is technically my younger half-brother… although far more talented than I. It was by his grace that I'm allowed to be a member of the 9 Blossom Lotus Society." Yuan Lin said with an air of absolute subservience, which, quite frankly sickened Sha Ku to death.

"You're practically a dog to your half-brother because he allowed you to join some pompous stuck up society?" Sha Ku could have guessed there'd be factions like societies in the Spirit Sword Sect, it was too big to have one homogeneous rule amongst the disciples and students… but never would he have thought it'd cause a noble to eat their own shit!

"Wait! Why am I telling you this?!" Yuan Lin spoke up, outraged!

"Hehe, his soul strength truly is pathetic." Sha Ku chuckled to himself, using a trick as old as Soul Cultivation itself to exert pressure on Yuan Lin, manipulating him.

Chapter end